My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of her
mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?

Gandalf[_2_]

December 22nd 10, 12:21 AM

On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:25:00 -0800 (PST), Tom Choad
> wrote:

>My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of her
>mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?

No.

Cats, unlike dogs, cannot change the way their mouth/lips appear, aside
from opening and closing them.

I have had cats that have an 'upturn' on the sides of their mouths, as
you describe, but it never changed.

Bill Graham

December 22nd 10, 12:56 AM

Are you sure you aren't viewing her upside down? ...:^)

Bill Graham

December 22nd 10, 12:59 AM

> On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:25:00 -0800 (PST), Tom Choad
> > wrote:
>
>> My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of
>> her mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?
>
> No.
>
> Cats, unlike dogs, cannot change the way their mouth/lips appear,
> aside from opening and closing them.
>
> I have had cats that have an 'upturn' on the sides of their mouths, as
> you describe, but it never changed.

I have one who drools a lot, and I thought his lower jaw might have some
misalignment in it. but then someone told me that it is a common cat problem
and his jaw is probably fine.

dgk

December 22nd 10, 04:06 PM

On Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:59:10 -0800, "Bill Graham" >
wrote:

>> On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:25:00 -0800 (PST), Tom Choad
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of
>>> her mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?
>>
>> No.
>>
>> Cats, unlike dogs, cannot change the way their mouth/lips appear,
>> aside from opening and closing them.
>>
>> I have had cats that have an 'upturn' on the sides of their mouths, as
>> you describe, but it never changed.
>
>I have one who drools a lot, and I thought his lower jaw might have some
>misalignment in it. but then someone told me that it is a common cat problem
>and his jaw is probably fine.

Espy almost always looks like he is smiling but sometimes it seems to
go away, mostly when he's clearly ****ed off. So perhaps they can't
change it but Espy sure looks like he can.

Scooter clearly has some mouth deformity. It's hard to tell what it
is, but his teeth aren't really aligned and I can see some gums or
something that looks like it should be part of the inside of the
mouth. It doesn't bother him apparently though he does drool quite a
bit when he's eating. The vet said that it is not uncommon. One of
Scooter's babies had the same thing.

Bill Graham

December 22nd 10, 11:39 PM

dgk wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:59:10 -0800, "Bill Graham" >
> wrote:
>
>>> On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:25:00 -0800 (PST), Tom Choad
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of
>>>> her mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?
>>>
>>> No.
>>>
>>> Cats, unlike dogs, cannot change the way their mouth/lips appear,
>>> aside from opening and closing them.
>>>
>>> I have had cats that have an 'upturn' on the sides of their mouths,
>>> as you describe, but it never changed.
>>
>> I have one who drools a lot, and I thought his lower jaw might have
>> some misalignment in it. but then someone told me that it is a
>> common cat problem and his jaw is probably fine.
>
> Espy almost always looks like he is smiling but sometimes it seems to
> go away, mostly when he's clearly ****ed off. So perhaps they can't
> change it but Espy sure looks like he can.
>
> Scooter clearly has some mouth deformity. It's hard to tell what it
> is, but his teeth aren't really aligned and I can see some gums or
> something that looks like it should be part of the inside of the
> mouth. It doesn't bother him apparently though he does drool quite a
> bit when he's eating. The vet said that it is not uncommon. One of
> Scooter's babies had the same thing.

My B-K only drools when he comes up on my chest while I am sleeping, and
puts his head over my face....:^)

SJ

December 25th 10, 04:34 AM

"Tom Choad" > wrote in message
...
> My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of her
> mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?

I'm not a Vet Behaviorist so I don't know if cats smile. But when my cat
used to lay on her side, very tired and relaxed and purring, her mouth would
curve into a smile.

T[_4_]

January 6th 11, 01:16 AM

In article >, weg9
@comcast.net says...
>
> > On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:25:00 -0800 (PST), Tom Choad
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> My roommate's cat is laying down purring and I notice the sides of
> >> her mouth are upturned. Does that means she is smiling?
> >
> > No.
> >
> > Cats, unlike dogs, cannot change the way their mouth/lips appear,
> > aside from opening and closing them.
> >
> > I have had cats that have an 'upturn' on the sides of their mouths, as
> > you describe, but it never changed.
>
> I have one who drools a lot, and I thought his lower jaw might have some
> misalignment in it. but then someone told me that it is a common cat problem
> and his jaw is probably fine.

Years ago I was doing some work at a buddy's software company. The
company was based on a Llama farm of all things and there were several
resident cats for rodent control, etc.

There was one cat named Quackers who was a serious drooler. Every day at
feeding time this cat would be drooling like a fiend.